




VIA 



Crucis of a Central 
American Republic 



VICTIMS OF THE 




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RED PAGE 



VIA 



Crucis of a Central 
American Republic 



VICTIMS OF THE 

President of Guatemala 




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By Tranafw 



PROLOGUE. 

The rumors reaching us from every corner of Central America, in a manner clearly 
denoting a lamentable protestation, assure us of the fact that the mandatary of the un- 
fortunate Republic of Guatemala, Manuel Estrada Cabrera, is hastly makmg ready 
to effect his fourth re-election to the magistracy of that country, and, laboring under 
such impressions, the reader can easily imagine the pseudo-pantomime, or dumb-show, 
which awaits a helpless people, who, indeed, deserve better days, by forcing to the 
ballot box disguised, destitute Indians, the armed soldiers of the nation and the gentle 
citizens, who will, no doubt, go to the polls "voluntarily," under the pressure of the 
lash and the threatening point of the bayonet. 

By the time the coup d'etat begins to take the form of reality we shall have our 
pens in line ready to strike at this fallacious election, and in the meantime we shall 
take pleasure in giving a full account, in the extensive English language, of the igno- 
minious and celebrated personage who actually occupies our minds, so that here, m the 
United States proper, the people may arrive at their own conclusion, no matter how 
remote, of the caliber and instinct of the ruler of Guatemala. 

As the reader turns over these pages, he shall read of the "victims of Estrada 
Cabrera," accusing vehemently the horrible situation of Guatemala and the painful 
via-crucis the country has been going through for a period of seventeen years of sempi- 
ternal terrorism. 

It is a well-known fact that Estrada Cabrera has unscrupulously extinguished and 
entirely ruined our foreign credit. He has in the same way emptied the public treas- 
ury by transferring the cash to places of his own selection; he has brought the stand- 
ard of the nation so far low a exchange as sixty to one, and has converted our insti- 
tutions of learning into regular centers of corruption and espionage. He has granted 
to foreigners the mines of the country under all sorts of concessions, regardless of the 
intrinsic rights of third persons. However, he has, in turn, presented us with his gen- 
erous instinct in the persons of the widows and orphans, who sadly weep for the sur- 
reptitious disappearance of their beloved one, and, as a culmination to his heroic achieve- 
ment, he has erected numerous necropolis for the interment of his defenseless victims. 
It is also a plain truth that he has brought his hegemony and state of terror to bear 
upon the neighboring republics of Central America, trampling upon their last rernam- 
ing vertiges of independence and liberty. He has to-day an army coomposed of his 
degenerated followers, who know no pay day, it being a matter of regret to notice 
how foreign visitors are shocked on seeing them shoeless, hungry and ragged, ex- 
changing their sword for nourishment and at the same time hiding with shame their 
worn-out uniforms. He has substituted the legislative and the judicial bodies with 
herds of enuochs, who enjoy themselves in depriving their fellow-beings of their honest 
belongings, disguised, for the purpose, under the dignified purple of the Goddess of 
Themis; and the fact shall not escape us that instead of making use of the invulner- 
able sons of the land for honest purposes and the aggrandisement of the country, 
Cabrera employs the unworthy services of degenerated foreigners in order to obtain 
his ends; and, it is a salient truth, that by means of servile promises made to the De- 
partment of State at Washington in former administrations (for, it shall be known 
that Mr. Wilson— the altruist master— has never and will never utilize the corrupted 
element of Cabrera), he succeeded in shaking his bloody hand with that of Mr. Knox, 
thus silencing, in effusive pact, the disorder of things and state of terror m which 
for a period of seventeen years of agony he has kept the Republic of Guatemala — a 
fruitful accomplishment which justify the flatterers-by-trade in calling him the "sub- 
lime exalted ruler," when not classifying him as the direct descendant of Charles V. 

It is likewise an incontrovertible fact, the truthfulness of which jumps to the eye, 
that the execrable candidate in question leaves behind neither industries, monuments, 
public roads, navy nor wealth, but in turn he leaves us a Guatemala wrapped in a 
regrettable sudarium. In order that the reader may not think we are laboring under 
a passionate inspiration in expressing these opinions, we ^-^fer him to any of the pub- 
lications inserted below, which have been seeing the - uc light in various languages 
throughout the civilized world and from the columns oi which they have commented, 
Avith impartiality, the countless errors and aberrations of his administration, and very 
particularly the crimes thus far perpetrated in the persons of subjects who dared to 
express opinions contrary to those of the "Benemerito" of Guatemala, or else whc re- 
fused to accede to his will when the same would have cmpromised their dignity and 
probity. 

The consummated facts herein referred to have been, as already stated, thor- 



oughly ventilated, reproduced and rudely censored by the press in general, ar'd it is 
on this account the thousand-and-one publications we have now in our possession, to 
make use of in due time, when the day of judgment for Cabrera before the civilized 
nations shall appear in the eye of universal history. These publications have been 
mostly written in French and Spanish and are hardly known in English, for which 
reason we have concluded to issue this pamphlet in this language, so that the generous 
and noble people of the United States of America, where the cradle of democracy 
swings full blast, where liberty rings over hills and dales to the remotest corner of the 
land, where justice and human life is so much respected and venerated; here, where 
the germ of despotism finds only sterile ground for development, and where the culprit 
is abhorred and duly punished — may know who is the tyrant of Guatemala, who still 
pretends to re-elect himself for six years longer to the Presidency of that country, 
where the candid and peace-loving people stand to-day friends of the United States 
of America. 

The publications referred to are: "El Reconcentrado," a daily newspaper of Cuba, 
published in Cienfuegos; "La Patria," a weekly paper, published in Mexioo; "El Correo 
Mexicano," a weekly paper, published in Los Angeles, Cal.; "Blanco y Rojo," a daily, 
of Granada, Nicaragua; "El Diario del Hogar," a daily publication of Mexico City; "La 
Gaceta de Guadalajara," published in Jalisco, Mexico; "El Universo," daily, published 
in Mexico; "El Pais," of Managua, Nicaragua; "La Estrella de Granada," of Granada, 
of Granada, Nicaragua; "La Informacion," of San Jose, Costa Rica; "El Noticiero," of 
Costa Rica; "La Republica," daily, of Costa Rica; "La Tribuna," of Managua, Nicaragua; 
"La Revista Latino Americana"; "Pagina Negra," a pamphlet subscribed to by several 
citizens of Central America, giving the crimes committed by Cabrera in full details; 
also a pamphlet published by Colonel D. Felipe Pineda; "America," an illustrated review 
published in Brussels, Belgium; "La Opinion," a weekly, published in New Orleans, La.; 
"El Heraldo de la Habana," Cuba; "La Prensa Libre," San Jose, Costa Rica; "La Es- 
^tltella de Panama," Panama; "El Comercio," Salvador, Rep. of El Salvador; "El In- 
dependiente," Rep. of El Salvador; "The New Orleans Item," New Orleans, La.; "The 
Picayune," New Orleans, La.; "The Times-Democrat," New Orleans, "Pan-American 
Review" and "La Revista Comercial Americana," both of New Orleans, La. Papers 
published in Germany, Italy, and France, also newspapers published in London, Bar- 
celona, Spain; Madrid, New York, San Francisco, the Republics of Argentine, Ecuador, 
Peru, Colombia and Porto Rico. In finale, the whole sane and independent press of the 
world at large have filled their columns with the horrible dictatorship established by 
"Estrada Cabrera in Guatemala during his seventeen years as President through his 
peculiar system of terror. 

After reading this account, what opinion will the Government of Washington form 
of he, who, in pretending his re-election, after seventeen years of terrorism, for a period 
of six years long, will once more grossly violate the treaties t)f Washington of 1908. 

We are not ready to believe at this time that in this occasion the hopes of the 
people of Guatemala will be frustrated. The Republics of Central America have full 
confidence in the precious words expressed by Mr. Wilson in the city of Mobile to the 
effect that "he will only recognize those governments emanating from the free will of 
the people," and they sincerely trust that the meaning of these words will never be 
carried away by the strength of a passionate wind, but will, on the contrary, serve as 
a full translation and practical expression of the political doctrine of Mr. Wilson, with 
which he has already won the sympathies and admiration of the Latin- American coun- 
tries. JUNTA LIBERTADORA. 

New York, November, 1914. < 



'.C't P V »-s- 



PRESIDENT CABRERA'S VICTIMS. 

Although Juvenal, and a good many others, as well as the worldly press, have pub- 
lished the names of some of the victims of Manuel Cabrera, we cannot help but to re- 
count those names and complete the list by adding the names oi murdered persons that 
they did not know of, with the exception of the names of his wife, his son and his broth- 
ers: Here are the names of the victims: 

Ldo Sinforoso Aguilar, first mayor of the City of Quezaltenango, and Mr. John 
Aparicio. Congressman Rosendo Sta Cruz, murdered in prison in Tactic while sleeping. 
This crime horrified everybody, but could not be averted notwithstanding all the efforts 
made to save him by the strong arid powerful German Colony in Coban. The notorious 
Juan Barrios M, together with Julio Godoy, Samuel de Leon and Juan Rafael ZuNiga 
were Cabrera*s appointed executioners. In order to make himself more favorably known 
to the chief executioner, the latter of the trio of murderers kicked the dead man in the 
face, calling him all the bad names that only a man of his bred could know. Severa; 
people witnessed this, among them Mr. Jose Maria Meza of Nicaragua, who is living in 
his country now, after having been a prisoner for a long time in Guatemala. His crime 
was that he witnessed this murder and that was enough for Cabrera to put him into 
prison. A friend of his, Mr. Wm. lbs, the foreign representative of the St. Charles Hotel 
in New Orleans, who was at the time of the imprisonment and the murder of Mr. St. 
Cruz employed in one of the large German firms at Coban, also testifies to the truth of 
what we have said about this foul murder of Sta Cruz. The notorious Juan Barrios M. 
was made Minister of foreign affairs as a reward for his part in this crime. 

Ex-Congressman, Jose Maria Urbizo, shot near El Chato, where he was sent by 
Cabrera with a military escort under Capt. Dionisio Gutierrez, who made Urbizo walk 
twelve miles barefooted over a rocky road, helping him along with Bayonnette and 
Butt, until they arrived at the spot selected for the execution, where the half-dead and 
blood-covered victim was finally shot to death. Then the soldiers tied the hands and the 
feet of the corps over a post and threw it into a nearby ravine to serve as a meal for the 
yacals and turkey buzzards. Miguel Cuadra of Nicaragua, just happened to pass near 
the spot at the time of the execution, and attracted by the rifle shots, he witnessed the 
whole gruesome performance. The Mayor of El Chato, who heard of this murder and 
though it the outcome of a drunken brawl, reported the matter to Cabrera; but the Man- 
datory told the astonished Mayor: "If you don't dismiss this matter quick from your 
mind, you will go over the same road that Urbizo did." The crime of this unfortunate 
young man, had consisted of some complimentary verses about Jose Leon Castillo. 

General Jose Maria Reyna Barrios, murdered by Oscar Zollinger at the suggestion 
of Cabrera as the worldly press has denounced. 

Dr. Manuel Enrique Araujo, President of El Salvador, killed by means of Machetes 
in the Park Bolivar in the City of San Salvador. The murderers confessed and were 
shot by the government of Salvador. 

General Manuel Lisandro Barillas, Ex-President of Guatemala, murdered in the 
City of Mexico by two persons sent from Guatemala and selected for this purpose by 
two well known military men, General Jose Maria Lima and Col. Onofre Bone. After 
having confessed all they were told to do by Cabrera, the Mexican Government had 
these two fellows shot. 

One hundred boy students -of the military school of Guatemala ,who were slaught- 
ered on the Plaza de Armas of Guatemala City, for the only reason that during a dip- 
lomatic reception, one of the boys fired a shot at Cabrera, whom he unfortunately did 
not kill. Under the pretext of this one shot, that he called a conspiracy, Cabrera had 
then a lot of his political prisoners shot whom he suspected to be in the plot with 
Manuel Mandriiian, who placed the bomb in the 7 Avenida Sur that exploded right 



under Cabrera's coach, but unfortunately did not kill him. The iron box that was a 
part of this bomb, was made for Mandrinan in the shop of Tinetti Bros, two Italians, 
who did not even ask him what he wanted this box for. Nevertheless, they were im- 
prisoned, and it took the Italian Government fourteen months to get them out of Cabre- 
ra's jail. The names of the people shot in prison during this carnage of Cabrera's are: 
Engineer Eduardo Rubio Piloiia, excandidate for the Presidency of Guatemala; Dr. and 
Gral. Mateo, F. Morales; Dr. Francisco Euiz; Mr. Juan Viteri, Col. Manuel P. Cordova 
and Fulgencio Cortez, and the Italian Signer Vinelli. 

In the City of Antigua there were executed: Mr. Enrique Aceiia; Col. Sarvelio 
Solorzano; Pedro Cofiiio; Rafael Vides; Ramon Palencia and others whose names we 
ignore. 

During those days, four of the sons of the best families of the country, were sus- 
pected as accomplices in the bomb plot and under persecution of a lot of policemen, they 
fled into a house in the Callejon de Judios. Here they were immediately surrounded by 
500 soldiers and, after having received their toll, they shot each other to death in 
order not to fall into the hands of Cabrera, where unspeakable torture awaited them as 
they knew only too well; they were: Julio Valdez Blanco, Baltasar Rodil, Jorge Avila 
Echeverria and his brother Jose Avila Echeverria. A priest of the Sto Domingo church 
and Joaquin Mendez, the actual Guatemalan Minister in Washington, denounced these 
young men to Cabrera and are, in that way, responsible for their murder. 

A few days before this murder, Mr. Manuel Lopez Cojulun, President of the Work- 
men's Club, was flogged to death by the Capt. of Police, Ramon Bonilla, who some 
years before, had murdered General Martin Barrundia. Cabrera, by a special arrange- 
ment, listened to the killing of Mr. Co.iullun, over the telephone, without loosing a 
single detail of this terrible murder; for Cabrera had given his murderer most explicit 
orders to open CojuUun's mouth and to administer poison to him. When Cojullun ob- 
jected to this, Cabrera's beast took his heavy police club and started to beat the man 
litterally to death. First he broke all the man's teeth, then his arms, legs and ribs, 
until the unfortunate man was nothing but a groaning mass of bloody flesh and broken 
bones, and— the President of Guatemala, Manuel- Cabrera, the BENEMERITO of the 
country — listened to all this and enjoyed it, as the pervert that he is. 

General Plutarco Bowen, kidnapped in Tapachula Mexico, by Hippolito Lamber, a 
Frenchman, and some other of Cabrera's Bailiffs, and brought on Guatemalan soil, 
where he was shot in the City of San Marcos, after the second amnesty had been de- 
clared. When about to be executed, Bowen made a few brief remarks, ending like this: 
"I am going to my grave now, because I hate a tyrant; and if on the other side of the 
grave, there are also tyrants, I shall fight them again as I have done here on Earth." 

General Calixto Mendizabal was murdered by Cabrera himself. After he had been 
offered a glass of Cabrera's famous Cock Tail, he died a few hours later from the effects 
of the poison contained in his drink. 

Mr. Rafael Prado Romafio and his brother, Ldo Transito Rojas, shot in Jutiapa 
jtogether with his yovmg fifteen-year-old-boy. This murder of a father and his innocent 
boy was an awful sad thing. The father is said to have pleaded earnestly and long 
with Cabrera's murderers, to content themselves with taken his own life, but to spare 
the life of an innocent child that could not possibly have known anything about politics. 
He pleaded in vain and he might as well have addressed stone figures, as to expect 
mercy of any of Cabrera's hirelings. When at last this horrible fact dawned upon the 
unfortunate father, he embraced his young boy, imploring him to die a brave lad, and 
calling down the ire of God upon his murderers, the father and his boy fell dead under 
the hail of bullets fired at them by Cabrera's murderers. Cabrera was told this sad 
story and he is said to have gloated over it for weeks in brutish satisfaction. And this 
man is to-day a friend of Mr. Knox and the famous Mr. Sulzer of New York. 

Ldo Mariano Castillo, Luis Antonio Giron, General Eugenie Monterosso, Col. Tran- 
sito Retana, murdered on the frontier of Salvador, Francisco Carrascosa, shot in El 



Plantanar by Gen. Larrave, who showed his sorrow for having been ordered to shoot 
this brave young lad who braved the tyrant until his death, by cursing the tyrrany— 
for this — ^wherever he went. 

Dr. Antonio Lopez who was poisoned by orders of Cabrera in Tapachula Mexico. 

Bruno Maldonado, who was taken from the prison and given instructions by Ca- 
brera to murder Ex-President Barillas; but Maldonado warned Barillas of this plot 
and gave him a chance to flee. He then returned to Cabrera with the story that Barillas 
had escaped him, and Cabrera had him immediately flogged to death, as ne has done 
with many others that did not follow his instructions to the letter. 

Dr. Hermelino Quezada, a Mexican, shot in Coatepeque; Mr. Heraclio R. Trejo, shot 
in San Marcos; Mr. Victor Fenjier, shot in El Rodeo; Mr. Adrian Victoria, shot in 
Techulutan; Mr. Alberto Lallande, Mr. Gaudencia Morales, murdered in El Rancho de 
San Augustin; Mr. Doroteo Reyes, murdered in San Pablo; Mr. Guadeloupe Chacon, 
murdered in San Marcos; Mr. Martin Muiioz, shot in Ayautla; Mr. Guillerno Garcia, 
shot in El Cucho, near San Marcos; Roberto Bermudez from Nicaragua, shot in San 
Marcos; Capt. Dcsiderio Castellanos, Luis Felipe Arias, a famous musician, murdered 
by an Italian agent of Cabrera; Capt. Aquilino Carillo, Pablo Pais, Venancia Villagran; 
Ldo Jose Pablo Velasquez, Victoriano Garcia, Sargeant Santiago Zufiiga, Ciriaco 
Muiioz, Juan Rodriguez, Luciano Flores, all these were shot on the same day in the 
City of Jutiapa. The soldier, Juan Cute, assistant of General S. Toledo, shot in Comapa; 
Desiderio Lopez and Federico Munoz, shot in Esquipulas; Ramon Morales and Franco 
Chavarria, shot in Asuncion Mita; Perfecto Piztun, shot in the City of Guatemala; Fila- 
deifo Pais, shot in Ayutla, after the second Amnesty; Pio Ponce, shot in Puerto Barrios 
by Augustin Acevedo, after the third amnesty; Cadet Antonio Zufiiga, shot 
in Jutiapa; Benjamin Solis, after the third amnesty; this man had to wait 
and see his murderers dig his own grave; Mr. Mariano Cruz, murdered in 
the fort of San Jose, because he dared to convey to Cabrera the misery 
of the people; Emilio Rodas, shot with two of his friends in Soloma; Fran- 
cisco Fodosqui and murdered in Malacatan; tv/o unknown men shot in Esquipulas 
by Capt. Manuel Duarte; two men killed in Atescatem by a certain Hill, one of the 
American Agents of Cabrera; 13 murdered in Ocos by Capt. Teofilo Meoiio (among 
these men were several Mexicans); 28 men shot in various places of the department of 
Zacapa by the Capt. of the flying squad of Cabrera's murderers, Albert Lalande, a native 
of Louisiana and well known, as the most particular murderer of Cabrera; 30 men shot 
in the department of Sta Rosa by Col. Silverio Herrarte and Felix de Leon; 32 shot in 
Malactan by Ex-Capt. Manuel Sosa (most of these men were Mexicans); Adolfo Ar- 
gueta, clubbed to death in the Central Penitentiary; Inocente Resinos, shot by the local 
Capt. of Quezatepeque,' departinent of Chiquimula; Augustin Barrera, clubbed to death 
in one of Cabrera's prisons, because he had made the remark that as customhouse in- 
spector, he could tell a good deal about the steals of the Government. In Mazatenango-, 
Cabrera had the commanding officer and with him seven men shot for rebellion and 
sedition; Neftali Palomeque a Mexican shot by Cabrera's order, because he protected 
Guatemalan refugees on Mexican soil; Manuel Diaz, for having distributed some pamph- 
lets during the Presidential elections that favored J. Leon Castillo. Mr. Bernardo Lemus 
from Salvador; Presbitero Beltran, shot in the church of San Francisco by a certain 
Mendoza, inspector of police, who latter on confessed to this crime during an operation, 
while under the influence of chloroform; Jaime Lopez from Salvador, shot in San Mar- 
cos; Ernesto Huerta, shot in Sta Rosa, by Col. Silverio Herrarte; five Mexicans and 
one Colombian with the name of Vallarino, shot in the port of San Jose by the Capt. of 
the port, Salvador Cabrera, who had the corpses thrown into the sea, with the ex^option 
of Vallarino, whom they did not see on account of the dark night and who was still alive 
and was able to hide under the wharf. Villarino made this crime public and died in the 
penitentiary; Primencio Aguirre, shot in El Chaguite de Agua Blanca by Capt. Cleofas 
Parades; Luis Espino, shot in the Sta Catarina by Capt. Benjamin Martinez; Lt. Carlos 



Garcia shot in Jutiapa; Adolf o Garcia, shot in Sta Catarina by Cap' Mercedes Aldana; 
Col. Tiburcio Resinos, killed by orders of the Capt. of Jutiapa, through a criminal with 
the name of Saturnio Orellana, in Salvador; Saturnino was pardoned for nine murders 
that he had committed and also made a sargeant on the police forco of Jutiapa; Celso 
Martinez and his brother Francisco shot near lake Ayar?a, alter having received about 
1,500 lashes each for several weeks; Aquilino Sandoval, shot by Pauline Quintana 
tlirough orders of General Resinos of Jutiapa; Jesus Argueta, shot by orders of Gen. 
David Barrientos in Jalapa; Francisco Guzman Montenegro shot by Col. Roman Lucero, 
Commander in Monjas; Fernando Chinchilla, shot by Ezequiel Morales in Calderas de 
Agua Blanca, through orders of the Commander of Jutiapa; Alberto Cantoral, who was 
given up by the government of Salvador and then murdered in Jutiapa by Capt. Marcial 
Leiva; Felipe Telly, shot at the frontier of Salvador when he was handed over to Ca- 
brera's soldiers; 18 men shot at Momotenango, Dr. Joaquin Yela, very important man, 
killed in the penitentiary, and lately, Ldo D. Manuel Paz, starved to death. 

POISONED: 

Greneral Calixto Mendizabal, Felipe Cruz, poisoned on his plantation by two men 
sent from the City of Guatemala; Gen. Luis Garcia Leon, Or. Jose Montoya, Dr. Antonio 
Lopez, Col. Roque Morales, Wenceslao Chacon, Juan Espno and Antonio Espino, pois- 
oned'on the same day by Gen. Doroteo Resinos, in the jail of Jutiapa, and then reported 
by him as having died suddenly; Francisco Cabrera, the President's own brother, Lan- 
detino Gonzales and others. 

PERSECUTED AND MURDERED ABROAD. 

Gen. Pedro Aguilar, Col. Mateo Paz Pinto, Capt. Jacinto J. Castro, Mi. Eugenio 
Gonzalez, Mr. Flavio Sandoval, Mrs. Elena de Cuellar, Mrs. Soledad Valladares, and Col. 
Manuel F. Rivera. All these are Cabrera's victims in Salvador. 

Capt. Julian Belteton, Gen. Jose Najera, Col. Jose Maria Navas, Lt. Julio Molta, 
Felix Lainfiesta, Capt. Jesus Villeda, all these were Cabrera's victims in Honduras. 

Ldos. Emilio de Leon, Laureano Urrutia, J. Maria Urrutia y Guzman, victims of Ca- 
brera, in Mexico; Ldo Miguel Vaeladares de la Vega in Nicaragua. 

Lds. J. F. Gonzalez, Mr. Juan F. Ponciano, Mardoqueo Jerez, Socorro Lopez, Capt. 
J. Cifuentes. All these were Cabrera's victims in Nicaragua. 

Mr. Jose B. Samoyoa in New York. 

Dr. Jorge Veles in the Argentine Republic. Dr. Patrocinio B. Mendia in Comitan, 
Mexico. - -Y.-.. '• ' 0^^ 

Manuel Cabrera, President of Guatemala, has always a good supply of murderers 
on hand that he uses in those special occasions, when it becomes necessary in his opinion, 
to do away with somebody dangerous to himself and, in Guatemala, these gentry are 
popularly known as: The private executioners of the BENEMERITO DE LA PATRIA." 



